


Silent Love

by Kings_fool



Category: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (Webseries)
Genre: And yellow guy, F/M, Fluff, Harry is kinda dick, It's Okay, Major Original Character(s), Mute OC, Mute Original Character(s), No healthy gang, Original Character(s), Shrignold is deaf, Sketchbook is mentioned, Sketchbook is nb, So is Malcolm, They're scary, and Tony - Freeform, but don't worry, there's probably gonna be angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28374567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kings_fool/pseuds/Kings_fool
Summary: Shrignold finds it hard to get the others' attention, whih is understandable, seeing as they don't know sign language. Or, one of them does. Samantha. Shrignold likes Samantha. A lot. The only problem is that he has no idea how to deal with that.
Relationships: Shrignold/Original female character, Shrignold/Samantha (OC)
Kudos: 3





	1. No words needed

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so Shrignold is deaf in this story. My OC, Samantha, is a pretty major chracter, and she's mute. Samantha teaches platonic love, compassion, and also British Sign Language. Her lessons are right before Shrignold's, so the students know what he's saying. Samantha has a chalkboard that she can use instead of signing.  
> In this AU, the teachers are humanized.  
> This will, most likely, be a collection of oneshots within the AU, about Shrignold and Sam.

Shrignold slumped to the floor, and sighed. Yet again, the other teachers had ignored him. He knew they didn't do it on purpose, but the fact that they only knew some of the very basics when it came to BSL made things hard. Sketchbook had tried to help, taking it upon themselves to teach everyone sign, but they couldn't keep their focus for long enough to able to learn anything.  
Then Shrignold remembered a friendly face - Samantha, the one who taught platonic love, compassion for strangers, and sign laguage. Shrignold had always liked her, as their lessons were about roughly the same topic. And there was the part about her knowing sign as well, because she was mute. It was nice to have someone to talk to, even his club members (he refused to call them a cult) didn't know a lot of sign.  
Thankfully, the boss had made the smart choice of having Samantha, or Sam as she preferred to be called, teach the day before Shrignold, so the students could understand what he was telling them. Something about Sam made Shrignold feel tingly inside, and it annoyed him that he didn't know what.

A shove on his back had Shrignold snapping out of his thoughts. There stood the one and only, Sam. Shrignold grinned, and quickly signed hello. Sam nodded in response, as she often when she didn't wan to repeat something that had already been signed. She grabbed Shrignold by the hands, and dragged him outside. Said boy poked his friend in the back, and asked where they were going. He was only met with a sly smirk, and a "You'll see." He sighed inaudibly. At least he thought it was inaudible, he wouldn't know. He closed his eyes, and immediatly regretted it, as he ran straight into a twig. He got up again, blushing furiosly, as Sam looked like she was laughing at him. He kept his eyes open the rest of the trip.

Before much time had passed, Sam pulled Shrignold to the ground. He felt the air leave him, and he was pretty sure Sam could hear the oofing sound as he landed. He made an attempt at glaring at her, but couldn't keep up the frown when he looked at her. His heart seemed to melt as she smiled at him, and he realized something that had been lurking inside him for a long time. He noticed her looking up at the sky, and he laid down to do the same. As he laid on the ground, grass tickling his neck, he realized why space was so popular. He looked up at the sky, and saw. He saw the constellations, the stars, the moons, and he was at peace.  
For once, it didn't matter that he couldnt hear, because right then, right there, he had everything he needed. He had space, and he had Sam.

For a while, they were just watching. They were content with simply being, quietly, under the stars. But Shrignold stirred. He needed to let out his newfound feelings, and he needed to do so now, before those very feelings, the warm, cozy feeling, became cold, harsh, and drowning. He leaned over to Sam, and softly tapped her shoulder. She turned, with a puzzled look on her face. Shrignold brought his hands up, and decided it was too late to back down now.  
He took a deep breath, and slowly started signing.

"Heart beats fast, colours and promises.  
How to be brave? How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?  
But watching you stand alone, all of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow.  
One step closer.  
I have died everyday, waiting for you  
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years,  
I'll love you for a thousand more." 

He let his hands fall, before determinedly putting them up again.  
"Sam. I don't know if you know this yet, but I lov you. I love how no matter what I do, you're still here, with me. I love how you keep surprising me with new things every day. I love how you'll always listen when I'm ranting about the others, and how you'll always let me ramble about Malcolm. I love you, and every part of you. I hink, no, I know, that you are my special one. If you'd do me the honour of accepting my feelings, and maybe even return them, I would be the happiest teacher alive." Sam looed at him, and blinked. Twice. Three times. Shrignld could see her mouth moving, but he couldn't hear a thing. He closed his eyes, cursing his deafness yet again.  
He blanched when he felt a soft pair of lips on his own. He opened his eyes, and Sam smiled slightly. No words were needed to explain what both knew the other was feeling.  
And they loved it.


	2. The very beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of how Shrignold and Sam met! This is from Sam's point of view.

Sam nervously stepped forward, and looked up at the big tree in front of her. She hesitantly touched the trunk, and, if she could have made noise, she would have yelped as she was tugged into a place looking like another world. She got back on her legs, and studied the landscape. Pink clouds littered the sky, and eerything looked sickeningly sweet.   
She was about to try to board one of them, after all, that was what the yellow boy had told her to do, albeit very nervously, when something heavy hit her back. She was hurled down to the ground, face first, and the weight on her back started clawing at her skin. She tried to shake it off, although nothing worked.

Out of nowhere se heard a soft thud on the ground, and the weight disappeared. Not in a sudden way, it seemed more like it had been yanked off of her. Someone stepped in front of her, and she carefully took their outstreched hand. Once standing, she could see the one helping her was a girl, looking slightly like the yellow kid in the house, except for her hair, which was long and pink. Behind her were two silhouettes, a dog-like creature who she assumed was what had been scratching her, and a butterfly-like person, wearing a loosefitting dress shirt, a scarf with small hearts on it, and loose black pants, with shoulderlength black hair.   
The butterfly-like one was agressively signing to the dog-like creature, and although Sam couldn't see everything that was happening, she could make out a few words, like leader, new member, and, for some reason, Malcolm.

She made sure her back wasn't too injured, and walked over to the two, pricking the butterfly's shoulder. He turned around, and immediatly began apologizing. Sam calmly put her hands atop the other's, and made her chalkboard talk.  
"Hello, I'm Samantha, the new teacher. I'll teach sign, compassion, and platonic love. I was told to see someone named Shrignold, and that he was the teacher for romantic love. Is that you?" The butterfly, who Sam could now see had mismatched eyes - one with a heartshaped irirs, and one with a slitted iris, almost like a cat - nodded, and Sam let out a tiny breath.   
"I saw you mentioning Malcolm, who is that?" Shrignold's face lit up with joy as he grabbed Sam's hands, and gestured for her to get on his back. She hastily complied, and Shrignold flew off. After a very short time of flying, they landed in a clearing. There was a large tree, and some flowers standing around. What caught Sam's eyes however, was the large statue in the middle of the circle. It was huge, for a lack of better words. It was shaped as a head, with cyan mosaic stones covering it. On the top of his forehead sat a pink heart, and the statue had blonde hair. 

Instinctively, Sam sunk to her knees. The statue emitted power. Unbeknownst to her, Shrignold was grinning widely behind her, happy to see his new collegue so respectful. He walked next to her, and kneeled by her side. Looking at the girl beside him, he decided to try something daring.  
"Would you like to pray with me?" Sam was about to reject, but upon seeing the hope lingering in his eyes, she nodded. Shrignold smiled, and led her to the gravel. He explained how his King ate gravel, and in return for it, he gave Shrignold immortality.  
Sam stared in awe, and once they were done saying their round of prayers, she turned back to Shrignold.  
"Would you like to meet up sometime? I'd love to be your friend." She smiled softly, and Shrignold let out a tiny gasp. He nodded exitedly, before remembering the way she had been treated when she first arrived.  
"I'd love to! And I'm terribly sorry for how Furry Boy treated you back in the forest, I promise you, it won't happen again!" He helped Sam onto his back again, and they flew down to the forest.

"To get home, you simply touch the trunk of this tree -" He pointed to a big tree, with a heart carving on "- And you're back fifty meters away from the house! See you sunday next week?" Sam nodded, happy to have a friend, and touched the tree. She felt the yank as she was pulled away from Shrignold, and just as the butterfly had said, she arrived close to the house. She stepped inside, and was met with Sketch's wide eyes.  
"Hi! How was he? He's usually pretty annoying, so you can just tell me if I need to buy a fly swatter and attack him!" Sam rolled her eyes and rubbed the younger teacher's hair, making them giggle.   
"Hey! It took me hours to fix that!" The creative teacher pouted, desperatly trying to fix the catastrophy that was their head. Sam's chalk started moving, and soon a sentence was written.  
"I didn't know Tony was here, Sketch." Sketch turned beet red, and swatted after their friend's arm.   
All was good.


	3. Accidents happen, but was this one?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sam finds Shrignold hurt, the investigation is immediate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!THIS IS NOT PART OF THE "CANON" STORY LINE!!  
> !!TRIGGER WARNING FOR GORE!!  
> I was inspired to write this after one of my Shrignold statues broke. Enjoy the fruits of my anguish and mortal regret.  
> An AU inside of an AU, yay! The only difference from the other stories is that Sam can speak in this.

Samantha hummed happily as she stepped onto the cloud she knew would take her to Malcolm - and more importantly, Shrignold - and thought what they had planned for the evening. The two had agreed to first say a quick round of prayers, before they went out for a picnic. After her first meeting with the religious teacher, she had come to enjoy not only the message the King spread, but also the King himself.  
She stepped off the cloud, and skipped to the clearing in the middle, where she would be meeting Shrignold. Arriving there, she frowned. He should have been here by now. She figured she'd just have to wait. As she sat down, a look of surprise and fear took over her face. Her collegue, her friend, was laying on the ground, arms and legs bent in all the wrong directions, his fragile, soft wings torn, and his face bruised and bloody. Panic filled Sam as she pulled up her cellphone, dialing a number she knew would always be picked up.  
"Hello Sam, you're talking to Harry, how's Shrignold?" The monotone voice filled Sam with ease, and she relaxed sligthly.  
"Hey Harry. Can you get Sketch for me?" The other end of the line was silent for a few moments, before the hyperactive voice of the sketchbook spoke to her.  
"You only call when something's wrong, or you need groceries. Since you were supposed to go on that date with Shrignold-" "-It's not a date Sketch." "Yeah whatever. Anyway you were supposed to go on that not-date with Shrignold, so I figure you don't exactly need me to hop over and buy you pizza. So, what's wrong?" Sam could practically hear the narrowed eyes from Sketch's voice, and sighed. Not knowing how to explain Shrignold's state, she opted to getting Sketch closer.  
"Why don't you just... come see for yourself. We're in Malcolm's clearing." 

Not long after, the creative teacher hopped off the cloud, and rushed over to their friend, frantically checking for injuries.  
"If that damned fly did something to you, I'll kill him." Sketch stated, and Sam hurried to calm them down.  
"It's nothing like that, come over here." She stepped close to where Shrignold lied, nausea filling her as she fully took in his situation. The bones in his arms looked to be completely shattered, as were the legs. Open wounds were covering his entire body, and his face was more purple and blue than it was his normal skincolour. But the worst? The worst was his wings. His soft, fragile, beautiful, broken wings. Torn apart, ruined, broken. Sam turned to Sketch. Sketch knew things, she'd know how to fix this, right?  
"Will he ever..." Her voice broke, unable to finish her sentence.

"Will he ever fly again?" Sketch's face was solemn, and something inside of Sam broke. She'd never be able to see her beautiful boy fly again. Would he walk? Would he survive? She feel to her knees, picking up Shrignold's soft body, ruined body, broken body. Broken, ruined. She cradled the quiet boy, too quiet, he was too quiet, why was he so quiet, why couldn't he just speak? Someone sobbed. Was it Sam? She didn't know. She didn't want to know, she wanted Shrignold to wake up, he couldn't die! He was granted immortality, he couldn't die! She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned around. Sketchbook. They wailed, but their mouth didn't move. If they had wailed, why didn't their mouth move?  
Sam blinked. Why were the others here? She felt something blunt hit her head. Black spots filled her vision, until everything was dark, and then the pain disappeared. 

When she opened her eyes again, she was in the house. She turned, not wanting to get out of bed. Not when Shrignoold was like this. Sketch opened the door, concern prominent in their eyes.  
"Sam. The questioning is starting soon." She scowled.  
"Why am I being questioned. Do they really think I harmed him? Do they seriously think I hurt my little Butterfly?" Sketch raised their arms, quick to defend themselves.  
"No no, you're not being questioned! No one thinks you harmed him, the others are going to be questioned!" This calmed Sam a bit, but she was still not happy. She got up, and walked the two steps from her bed to her closet, picking out the darkest clothes she had. She ended up with dark grey loose-fitting pants, a black t-shirt, and a dark purple cardigan.  
"Until he's okay, I'll mourn." She swallowed, holding back tears. When she rushed down the stairs, she was met with the three students who lived in the house, a clock, a computer and a lamp.

"Cowards." Her voice was soft, they barely heard her. Somehow, the lamp looked guilty.  
"You're fucking cowards. All of you." Without warning, the clock transformed into a tall man with blue hair. He looked sad. Good. Samantha wanted them to be sad. They shouldn't be happy when Shrignold was dying somewhere.  
"Now now, Samantha, calm down!" He raised his hands in defence, unwilling to look at the hurting girl in front of him.  
"Anthony." He paled drastically, not only at her cold tone but also at the of his full name. "You're a fucking coward. Shrignold is hurt, he's dying, he might never be able to fly again, and you can't even look me in my eyes. None of you can." Guiltily, they all turned into their human forms. Anthony stood beside the once-computer, who now wore slim grey jeans and a greyblue cardigan, with the last one, dressed in cloud-patterned overalls and a white hoodie. Sketch stepped down the stairs, feigning enthusiasm.

"Good, you're all here! Let's start!" Tony walked to the middle of the room, and took a deep breath.  
"I may not be Shrignold's best friend, but I believe Colin can vouch for me when I say we were playing chess in the living room." Colin nodded, and Larry sloppily got on his feet.  
"Little One, you and I were learning about dreams, right?" The small, yellow kid nodded, and Robin spoke up.  
"Sketch was trying to get me to dye my feathers -" "They aren't properly creative, friend!" "- when Harry said he needed to talk to them."  
Harry blinked as all eyes turned to him.  
"I was taking a nap." 

Sam slouched in her chair, quietly judging, analysing. She knew someone seemed off, but she couldn't pinpont just what seemed strange. Then it hit her, and boy did it hit. It hit like an oncoming train. She turned to Sketch.  
"Sketch, did you tell anyone I was going to see Shrignold?" They shook their head, and a hard, angry expression welled up in Sam's face. She turned to face the culprit. It was him, she was sure of it.  
"How could you." It wasn't a question, and so Harry didn't answer. He just stared at the ground, clearly ashamed of himself.  
"What did he ever do to you. What did he do to deserve this, Harry. Tell me." He was unable to speak, unable to voice his jealousy.  
"Fucking tell me, dick!" Sketch gasped at the vulgarity, but Sam didn't let that stop her. With determined strides, she was in front of Harry in no time. She slapped him, and broke down into tears. Sketch rushed to support their friend, and therefore neither of them saw what Tony saw. A short boy, bandaged from head to toe, flying in the doorway.

Sam heard the soft buzz of his wings, and turned to the butterfly she loved so dearly.  
"Shrignold!" Her chalkboard wrote, not bothering to use sign. She all but ran over to her best friend, and engulfed him in a bonecrushing hug. Shrignold laughed in response, a soft, angelic sound. They stayed like that for at least a minute, just calming themselves down.  
Sam could cry. She probably was. Shrignold was alive. He could fly. He was going to get well again.  
They could rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna make sure y'all are aware that Sam's worship of Malcolm is entirely 100% out of free will. Shrignold asked her to the first time, but after that she felt a connection to the King, and kept worshipping him.


End file.
